•Citizens comments are included on each regular monthly meeting agenda. No prior appointment is necessary to speak during the citizen comments times.•To speak on a particular agenda item, advise the attendant at the door.•To place an item on the Board's agenda, please notify the County Administrator's Office at least ten days prior to the Board meeting.•Any citizen concern can be communicated to the County Administrator by calling 980-7705 from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. weekdays. All citizen complaints are recorded and responded to as soon as possible.

WHEN SPEAKING BEFORE THE BOARD, PLEASE COME TO THE PODIUM AND GIVE YOUR NAME.

BOARD AGENDA Regular Meeting

PULASKI COUNTY May 10, 2011PUBLIC SERVICE AUTHORITY 9:00 a.m.ITEM

1. Citizen Comments•Recognition of PSA Staff

2. Financea. Follow-up from April Board Meeting:

1. Amnesty Program2. Cost Comparison of Montgomery

Countyand PSA Recycling Rates

3. Painting of Transfer Trailer4. PSA Budget

b. Review of Financial Reportc. Balance Due & Lien Reports d. Budget Adjustmentse. Billing Adjustmentsf. Accounts Payableg. Baskerville Rehab Project Liensh. Stone Ridge Master Meter Replacementi. NRRA Tipping Fee

3. Operations

a. Minutes of Previous Meetingb. Inmate Availability Reportc. Drop Site Total & County Landfill Tonnage Reports d. Personnel Changes  

4. Informational Items

a. Recycling Center (Drop Site) Updateb. Rescheduling of Public Hearing to July Meetingc. Use of Auxiliary Water Only Metersd. Commerce Park Impact on Town of Dublin Water Systeme. Employee Use of Mailboxf. Meeting Timeg. Water Treatment Plant Valve Replacements

 

6. Closed Session – 2.2-3711.A.3

7. Other Matters

8. Adjournment

1. Citizen Comments – We have not received any requests from citizens to be placed on the agenda.

•Recognition of PSA Staff – I would like to commend Ronnie Nichols and the PSA refuse staff for their efforts over the past month in clearing, hauling and mulching debris from the tornado damage. Ronnie and the refuse department staff have done an exemplary job while continuing uninterrupted PSA collection services. 

2. Finance - (Items having significant financial impact on the Authority)

a. Follow-up from April Board Meeting:1. Amnesty Program - At the March

meeting, the Board requested staff pursue options related to implementation of an amnesty program and provide a more formal proposal. The following is a suggested

format for the proposed program:  

“For a period beginning July 1, 2011 and ending September 1, 2011, PSA customers may apply for a one-time waiver of penalty and 50% waiver of interest charges with the condition that the remaining account balance is paid in full and that the customer utilizes the automatic bank draft debit program.

Residents qualifying for the Tax Relief for the Elderly would continue to be granted full waiver of both penalty and interest charges when paying their delinquent account in full.”

The PSA charges a 10% penalty on the original bill plus 10% annual interest charge for bills not paid within the first 30 days. The 50% waiver is based on approximately what the resident would have been earning and what the PSA would have been losing in interest costs while the use of automatic debit will make it easier to collect future payments on a timely basis.

It is recommended that the proposed three- month amnesty program be publicized in the County newsletter, cable TV announcements, on the County web site and in the PSA bills.

It is also recommended that the one-time revenue from any amnesty program be

applied to equipment purchases. It is also recommended that the publicity for the

amnesty program be accompanied by the publication and implementation of stepped up collections efforts to include set-off debt interception of state income tax refunds, and court judgments where high bills are still owed following the conclusion of the amnesty program.

2. Cost Comparison of Montgomery County and PSA Recycling Rates – Dr.

Warren had requested staff provide a cost comparison of the PSA and Montgomery County recycling rates. Both Pulaski and Montgomery counties provide free recycling at specified drop sites. Curbside service is available in Christiansburg through Valley Curbside Recycling at a rate of

$150 for a 12-month subscription; $84 for a 6- month subscription or $45 for a 3-month trial. Curbside recycling service is provided to Pulaski County and Radford City residents by EcoSmart at a cost of $150 for 12-month contract with no bin fee, $85 for a six-month contract with a $10 bin fee; and $45 for a 3-month contract with a $20 for bin fee.

3. Painting of Transfer Trailer – Board members have been provided from Ronnie

Nichols regarding the painting of transfer trailers. The $4,500 price was the least expensive option. The combination of environmental requirements and the size of the container are factors in the cost of this work. We had one unit painted but have held off on painting the second pending approval by the PSA Board.

4. PSA Budget – Board members have been provided a reformatted budget document with the amount of grant pass through separated in the Summary by Function on page 1. The separation of these pass- through funds is in response to questions at the last Board meeting. Approval would be needed by the June 14th meeting.

The recommended budget is balanced with no rate increases. It includes $33,000 for a 1½ percent pay increase for all employees and $20.000 for the implementation of a compensation study completed 2 years ago. The compensation study provides specific pay adjustments based on comparable salaries paid by similarly sized localities. Implementation of the study addresses a number of pay inequities due to market changes which have taken place over the past 20 years. Board members have been provided a comparison of pay increases, consumer price index and social security increases since July 1, 1999.

b. Review of Financial Report – Review of the revenues and expenditures summaries is

requested.

c. Balance Due & Lien Report – Review of the balance due and lien reports is requested.

d. Budget Adjustments – There were no budget adjustments.

e. Billing Adjustments - Adjustments totaling $7,406.86 cr. are submitted for review and approval by the Board.

f. Accounts Payable - Review and approval of the accounts payable is requested.

g. Baskerville Rehab Project Liens – Diane has provided Board members with a listing of the

PSA liens associated with the properties in the Baskerville Rehabilitation project.  The

Baskerville Management Team (Ken Hall at the PDC) has requested to appear before the PSA Board to ask for a release of the liens until the project is finished, if necessary.  He suggests that the PSA reinstitute the liens following the completion of the project for those properties that the Home Consortium is involved in.  Sam Campbell suggests that the liens be subordinated to the new mortgages rather than being written off.

h. Stone Ridge Master Meter Replacement – Board members have been provided information from Gary McCollum with Draper Aden Association providing a

history regarding the Stone Ridge meter issue. His report also estimates the cost of extending a PSA water line across the railroad and Route 11 to be approximately $125,000. Based on the significant difference between the cost of the proposed meter ($6,757.71) and the extension of the line under Route 11, I authorized the purchase of the meter and recommend the PSA request payment of this amount from the developer.

i. NRRA Tipping Fee – I would like to recommend consideration by the Board to

elimination of the $10 surcharge for tornado related debris. Currently, tipping fees are $32 per ton with $5 being returned to the PSA for the operation of the drop centers and $5 going to the post-closing maintenance costs of the Ingles Mountain landfill, tire grinding and the operation of the drop center at the landfill. Since these budgets were based on normal flow, waiver of the surcharge for tornado related debris should not have an adverse impact on the PSA or the NRRA.

The reduced $22 per ton fee will allow the County to accomplish 1/3 more in

addressing storm damage with the $468,545 allocated by the Governor. As of April 30, 751 tons of tornado related debris had been transported to the landfill. NRRA normal special waste handling rate of $54 per ton had previously been reduced to $32 per ton for the tornado debris. Board members have been provided a memo from Joe Levine describing other actions taken by the NRRA in responding to the tornado damage. 

 

We plan to charge all over-time, tipping fees, fuel, and all other tornado related costs to the Board of Supervisors with reimbursement being provided by the state in order not to complicate the PSA budget and to avoid the need to transfer funds from one fund to the other.

3. Operations:

a. Minutes of Previous Meeting - Minutes of the April 2011 meetings have been provided for the Board’s review. No changes were reported by Board

members.

b. Inmate Availability Report - Staff reports the PSA generally had use of two inmates per day for the month of April.

c. Drop Site Total & County Landfill Tonnage Report –

Drop Site TotalFor the Month of April

Site Trips Tons Tons per haulDora

Highway25 63.09 2.53

Dublin 20 73.83 3.70Fairlawn 6 44.08 7.35Totals 51 181.00 3.55

County Landfill Tonnage – April. 2011(County customers & Refuse Department

Haulers)

Commercial Residential Tires Brush507.34 1,617.25 1,697

2.09

d. Personnel Changes – There were no personnel changes to report at this time.

4. Informational Items

 

a. Recycling Center (Drop Site) Update – The Town of Pulaski continues to work on the acquisition of the Honeywell property behind Wendy’s. However, they have indicated that the

Town does not have the funds necessary to develop the site. In

addition, I have suggested consideration to moving the

Dora Highway site to the paved and fenced Renfro parking lot located across South Jefferson Street from the former Jefferson Elementary School.

b. Rescheduling of Public Hearing to July Meeting – The public hearing to

consider connection fee changes has been moved to the July 12 meeting. We failed to place the public hearing on the April PSA agenda resulting in re-advertisement for the July meeting. c. Use of Auxiliary Water Only Meters – Survey results to date indicate five residents would use these meters to separate water used for cars, gardens and swimming pools with the remaining 53 responders indicated they would not be interested.

d. Commerce Park Impact on Town of Dublin Water System – Board members have been provided correspondence from Draper Aden Associates providing information on a recent analysis of the 12- inch waterline that will serve the Commerce Park from Ruebush Road, near Dalton Drive. This letter was provided in response to concerns the Town of Dublin had regarding the impact of the proposed project on the Town water system. e. Employee Use of Mailbox – Board members have been provided a note left in

the Ryan Blackburn mailbox by the driver of the weekly pick-up route. The driver has been advised that the placement of an item in the mail box breaks a federal law.

f. Meeting Time - I had asked for contact numbers of persons interested in attending PSA meetings in the event the meetings were moved to a late afternoon or evening time.  My purpose is to confirm any standing times or dates that would prevent those interested from

attending.   The information has been requested twice with no response given to date. 

g. Water Treatment Plant Valve Replacements - An original valve controlling the flow of clear water into

one set of filters has failed.  Jay Goad and Jared Linkous are reviewing options for the replacement of this and similar valves at the other filters.  It is anticipated that replacement will be expensive due to the location and configuration of the valves.  We hope to have additional information at the June Board meeting.  Currently, the flows are controlled through the placement of a gate in front of the intake.

5. Current Authorized Projects - The staff currently has the following projects on

their “to do” list but we do not have any additional information to report regarding these items at this time.

a. Action Items:•Construction of Highland Park sewer •Skyview/NRV Fairgrounds sewer funding •Construction of Commerce Park Utility project•Drop Center for the South side of Claytor Lake•Evaluation of “radio read” water meter option 

b. Pending Items

•Lakewood Estates emergency response plan •Evaluation of joint negotiation of rail crossing fees

6. Closed Session –2.2-3711.A.3

7. Other Matters

8. Adjournment